Holly & Cory

A vintage dream is the style of this afternoon’s wedding. From the bride’s sweet tea length gown, the vintage inspired bridesmaid’s gowns made by the groom’s aunty and all the special moments in between!

Holly tells the story of their relationship. “Cory and I actually first met while still at high school but nothing happened then – Cory was a bit of a bad boy and I was a major nerd so it appeared that we were only ever destined to gaze wistfully at each other from across the room at best. After graduation Cory moved to Sydney and I stayed in Perth.  Years later, Cory made the move back to Perth and I invited him to attend my New Year’s party.  Secretly I had a crush on him.  Little did I know he had a crush on me too!  At the party, a strange happening occurred.  Just before midnight, someone dropped a glass and, in a reverse-turn of Cinderella’s slipper, I stepped on the glass whilst cleaning it up and I cut my foot.  Cory whisked me away to attend to my wounded paw, and the timing was such that as the clock struck midnight there we were, together, right in time for the New Year’s kiss.  The rest, as they say, is history!”

Photography today is by White Tulip Photography who captures such beautiful wedding moments- from the classics to the candids.

Holly adorned her Diva Peeptoes in Fuschia from Betts shoes with shoe clips from Joallie.

Holly describes the day as “A wedding filled with happiness and joy… it was also filled with homemade, recycled, borrowed, repurposed and budget-friendly things that made it personal, a little kooky and memorable!” Holly wore a gown from Justin Alexander while Cory’s aunty made the bridesmaids gowns. Holly remarks “Cory’s Aunt Lynne made all four gowns, and she did the most incredible job! She lives in the UK and all my bridesmaids currently live on opposite sides of the country/state to me and so it was a bit of a logistical nightmare getting the measurements and fittings done, but Lynne didn’t bat an eyelid.  You know a dress is well made when your maid of honour is doing commando rolls on the dancefloor at the end of the night and the dress stays completely intact. Fact.”

The couple chose a garden setting for their ceremony. Holly explains “Our ceremony was held on the grassy slopes of Greenplace Reserve which is a gorgeous little spot right on the waters edge in Mosman Park.  We set up handmade picnic blankets and cushions in the shade under a big blossoming tree for our guests to sit on.  Holly’s Mum made metres and metres of paper love-heart bunting that hung from the trees and danced in the breeze, and looked so whimsical.”

After the ceremony, guests sipped homemade mint and raspberry cordial made by Holly’s mum and nibbled on homemade gingerbread and cheesy savory biscuits made by the bride and groom’s mothers.

Holy and her bridesmaids hair was styled by. Holly says “We booked Sonya Fitzgerald from Elite Monde hairstylists.  Sonya has been doing my hair for years and it was so much fun to have her there with us while we were getting ready.  She bawled when I came out with my dress on!  She’s just the sweetest.  My veil was my Mum’s original one that she wore on her wedding day (and was spiffed up by Joallie).”

Holly says “I think the number one thing that made the day special for us was being able to have so many of our family members and friends there celebrating with us.  It’s such a rare and unique experience, to be surrounded by so much love and happy energy.  And so many people had travelled so far which was so humbling – we had family and guests travel from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and from almost all corners of Australia.”

Of their photographer, Holly remarks “Mandy Mandy Mandy… what can we say?  We cannot wax lyrical enough about this amazing, talented lady who we were lucky enough to have as our photographer.  She made us feel completely comfortable on the day, which is quite a feat as usually we are the ones who like being behind the camera rather than in front of it! Mandy really captured all the love and happy energy from the day in her images.  We love her style because her images don’t feel posed or contrived, and she has this great photo journalistic approach that just tells the story of the day.”

Holly remembers “Everything went surprisingly smoothly on the day itself, so we don’t really have any disaster stories to share.  A good friend of ours told us in the lead up “to expect about 70% of stuff to go right on the day, the other 30% don’t worry about” and that was great advice because it meant we let go of the idea that everything had to be “just perfect”.  That said, it felt like everything was just about perfect!  The one thing we couldn’t control was the weather and on the day it was just gorgeous… but two days before and two days after there were HUGE thunderstorms so we had a lucky escape there!”

The bouquets and buttonholes were created by Flowertalk  Holly recalls “We almost weren’t going to have professional flowers done because they weren’t part of our original budget, but after seeing Jappalin’s work I chatted to her and she came up with some great ideas to keep things budget-friendly.  We did the flower arrangements for the reception ourselves. ”

Holly says “The styling by me (Holly) & my Mum.  Because we were doing the set up ourselves without professional help, we did a lot of preparation before the day to help things run smoothly.  We took photos of table set ups, wrote instructions, put things into labelled boxes… we tried to make it fool proof!  On the day the set up was done by my two brothers, my dad, my father-in-law, and Cory!  My Mum also did a lot of rushing around making sure everything was ‘just so’.  We are just so thankful for all the help and time that was given by everyone to get it all set up just perfectly (and everyone mucked in for the packing away!), it looked even better on the day than we could have ever imagined. ”

The reception tied right into the vintage style of the day. Holly says “Our reception was also outside, on the lawns of the Nedlands Yacht Club which is a small but excellent little venue right on the Swan River.  We set it up with garden furniture, picnic rugs, cushions, lawn games, lanterns, a dance floor… and more! We were able to watch the sky change colours as the sun set and the full moon came out, and then we partied under the stars, all with the city skyline as our backdrop – perfection!  The staff at the NYC were spectacular and so accommodating with all our ideas, and were very attentive with their service and (as necessitated by our budget) very affordable too.”

The wedding was filled with handmade touches, Holly explains ” Instead of a guestbook we set up my Nana’s typewriter that she used to use in the fifties when she was a typist, and got people to type their messages of wisdom and advice to us as the newlyweds.  Reading through them afterwards was hilarious, especially as the night wore on and the typewriter became a bit of a sobriety test!

In a nod to the strong influence of our families, and the inspiring example that they have set for both of us (between both our folks they’ve been married over 70 years combined) we borrowed the idea that we’d seen at other weddings of having photos of our parents, grandparents and even great grandparents on their wedding days set up for people to admire.”

The couple went without a wedding cake, instead choosing a handmade cake extravaganza!  Holly remembers “Our cake table was mind-blowing. Don’t you think that homemade cakes always taste the best?  We did too, so we didn’t have one big formal cake… we had a cake buffet!  It was amazing.  A ton of family and friends baked their favourite recipes for us, and as a result we had the most awesome spread including a range of chocolate cakes, carrot cake, caramel slice, trifle, fruit cake, ginger cake, pecan pie, rocky road, cupcakes, sponge, pavlova, melting moments and even a croquembouche!  There was SO. MUCH. CAKE. Not that we were complaining.”

There were so many little elements that Holly, Cory and their families made and borrowed to add to the flair of the wedding. Holly says “Seeing as our reception was loosely based on a ‘garden party’ we set the place up with white lawn furniture, soft lighting, picnic blankets, cushions and lawn games.  The croquet set was a nice way to acknowledge my late Grandfather who was a keen player – we borrowed the set from the club he used to play at. ”

For dinner, Holly and Cory hired Il Paiolo “We had the amazing Vincenzo from Il Paiolo for our caterer.  Anyone who has heard of him (or been to a party that he’s catered) will rave about his incredible food.  He cooks all the food on site in his portable wood fired oven, and uses seasonal, locally sourced produce as part of the Slow Food Australia movement.  Not only does it taste sublime but it’s more environmentally friendly too.  We had cocktail style reception which can make people think “Will I be hungry?” but there was certainly more than enough food.  His finger food is substantial!  And did I mention it’s delicious?”

Guest photo

The magical moment of the night? The first dance ! Holly says “This was one of my favourite moments of the day.  I was never that little girl who would fantasize about her dream wedding, but one thing that I had pictured in my head, quite firmly, was that I would dance my first dance as a married woman under a canopy of stars.  Our dancefloor was on the lawn by the river, under a huge full moon, and we had a marquee frame set up with metres and metres of fairy lights entwined to create this incredible ceiling of lights above us.  Cory and I danced to ‘Into My Arms’ by Nick Cave.  I twirled and twirled like a dizzy five-year-old on that dance floor to Nick Cave, with my husband, and it was simply magical.”

Thank you for sharing your beautiful day with us Holly and Cory! Congratulations! thank you also to White Tulip Photography  for sharing today’s photographs!